Himalaya

Day 1: Up the Khyber

Though the last mile or two is now a spectacular no-mans land of abandoned viaducts and fallen arches, the line from Peshawar to Landi Khotal has been kept open for its tourist value.

Recent business has been badly hit by post 9/11 security scares and, for a while, the British Foreign Office was advising travellers not to come to Pakistan at all, so it's not surprising that Landi Khotal station is quiet as the breeze this morning as I wait for the train, which, I'm reliably informed, is the first to have left Peshawar for three months.